On July 23, 2013, the SEC ventured into the electronic currency world by filing a civil complaint against virtual currency “trader” Trendon Shavers and his company, Bitcoin Savings and Trust, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. In its complaint, the SEC alleged that Shavers carried out a Ponzi scheme by targeting the growing allure of a new and cutting-edge monetary technology - Bitcoin. Coming on the heels of highly publicized enforcement actions against Japanese‑based Mt. Gox[1] , this case constitutes the first SEC civil prosecution arising from online virtual currency trading and has future implications for Bitcoin-based businesses. The SEC’s Case Against Shavers and Bitcoin Bank and Trust Similar to the strategy of the federal prosecutors who filed a civil forfeiture action against Mt. Gox, the SEC applied for an order freezing the assets of ...